Porky Pig

Porky Pig was originally part of a Tubby Millar/Friz Freleng vaudeville-like team of “Porky and Beans.” Beans can probably be found today, a toothless, out-of-work (since 1935) cat, sleeping fitfully on park benches, cursing the William Morris agency while his erstwhile partner, Porky, enjoys worldwide fame, acclaim, and pâté de foie gras galore.

Porky Pig is structured almost identically to Elmer Fudd except for his nose, but the pair’s personalities are quite different. The early Porky had about as much personality as a can of Crisco. We didn’t know what he was, so he could hardly know who he was, and he just walked through his roles. I began to discover Porky’s unique character only when I gave him more sophisticated parts, and then he developed characteristics of his own.

As the space cadet in Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century or Friar Tuck in Robin Hood Daffy, Porky is the observer, stating what the audience is thinking and only incidentally playing an active part in the plot. Porky the observer was a type of character I had not met before. The role became significant in Duck Dodgers, in which he acts as Daffy’s assistant. The film’s leading man could not appear heroic unless he had somebody to bounce off of, and a character such as Daffy required someone relatively meek for the role. Porky, responding on behalf of the audience, makes us realize the true craziness of what we are seeing.

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